A New Direction

Today’s guest post is from Kirsty, who describes herself as a thirty-something wife and mother of one cheeky toddler. She blogs at damsonlane.com, and you can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.  

Restraint does not come easily to me. I have a major character flaw that means I often say aloud things that probably should remain unsaid. Recently I seem to be better at biting my tongue but in all honesty this is due to my post-baby lack of confidence, general exhaustion and a feeling that there are more important things in life, rather than a deliberate mission to behave myself.

In the last few weeks I have started to feel more like the younger, feistier me but my perspective has changed. I’ve found myself in situations where I would previously have got up on my soap box but instead I have consciously decided to take a deep breath and walk away. The younger me would think I’ve gone soft, that I am a push over and that I have no sense of social responsibility but my younger self never stopped to think that her outbursts were actually impetuous outrages which didn’t achieve anything other than making the individuals involved feel under verbal attack (but don’t tell my younger self that, she’d be really pissed off). Continue reading

Blogging has changed the way I live my life!

Today’s post is from a lovely lady who I have mentioned on here before because she is such a warm and encouraging person, and has been a huge support for me during the time I’ve been blogging. It is the marvellous Michelle from Mummy from the Heart.

ONE Campaign Ethiopia

Blogging has changed the way I live my life!

That is quite a statement isn’t it? You might think that I’m exaggerating but I really have thought this through and truly, since I started blogging in 2008 I am a changed woman.  The journey did start before this time but I can attribute blogging and the amazing people I have met though blogging as a real spur towards transforming my life as I know it. Continue reading

Arts Emergency

Today’s guest post is from a small charity which I support called Arts Emergency. It was set up by the comedian Josie Long, and fundraiser Neil Griffiths, and I’m thrilled to give them the opportunity to explain a bit more about what they do and why. As well as all the info that’s on the website, you can keep up to date with their work on Twitter

Arts Emergency logo

The Arts Emergency: a generation of young people are being incentivised to disengage from humanistic study. Don’t stand for it.

It seems education as a whole is increasingly building for short term profit, and the skills we now champion are those that aid this through business and industry.

As we now know, in reality this has meant that academic disciplines caricatured as having no clear economic utility have had their public funding withdrawn entirely.

Yet those very subjects – the arts, the humanities and the social sciences in particular, are unquestionably vital to a diverse economy (the creative industries alone constitute nearly 10% of all enterprises in the UK, not to mention the fact more jobs than ever before require degree level qualifications to enter). Even seen through the relatively narrow ideological prism of those depreciating these skills and curiosities (of vital human importance) – it seems at best a counterintuitive act, at worst an act of deliberately gross cultural and social vandalism. Remember too we are suffering cuts in schools for music, and the closure of public libraries. Continue reading

Family

Today’s post is from a lovely new blogger called Purple Crazy Mum (I know, isn’t that a brilliant name!?). If you want to say hello, you can see her on Twitter, or pop over and give her some comment love on the blog

optimistic street art

So I’ve written and rewritten a million beginnings as I try to work out what to write for my first ever guestpost for dorkymum. Instead of my usual post about what funny things Eva has done, I decided I’d use this as an excuse to write something slightly different.

I wanted to write about ‘family’. What do you class as family? Continue reading

The busy-ness competition

Today’s guest post is from one of my favourite bloggers, and a wonderful writer, Molly from Mother’s Always Right. If you want to say hello to Molly you can pop over to Facebook or Twitter.

street art

Do you ever get that feeling that you’re the busiest person of everyone you know? Because I do.  All the time.

Bumping into a mum friend as I unpack the shopping and attempt to stop my toddler hauling herself into the road: “Hi, yes fine thanks, really busy, you know how it is!” We exchange a couple of pleasantries about the life of a busy mum and nod to each other knowingly. And as she walks away I secretly think, “BUSY?! What does she know about busy?

Chatting to a blogging friend on Twitter as I try to ignore my mountain of unanswered emails and deadlines coming out of my ears: “Oh I haven’t blogged in ages, can’t seem to find the time, you know how it is!” We exchange a few tweets about blog time management and bemoan our lack of thinking space. And as she tweets off with someone else I secretly think, “BUSY?! What does she know about busy?Continue reading